Music and Spirits

Here's another Carlos Saura dance film: Salomé. In some ways, it follows his usual pattern, mixing the process of making a movie, the planning, the rehearsals, with the movie itself. He shows us a group of dancers preparing a flamenco-inspired ballet about Herod, his wife Herodias, John the Baptist and Salomé. Then, he shows the resulting dance.

He doesn't play around much with his usual meta-dramatical tricks. In another mood, he might have shown how the director is really Herod, seduced by the ingenue playing Salomé away from his true love, the dancer playing Heriodias. He might even be tempted to "sacrifice" the career of the dancer in the John the Baptist role. But he doesn't do that. Look to Tango or Carmen for those kind of games.

Instead, we have an insightful documentary followed by a fine modern ballet ala flamenco. The choreographer and Salomé is Aída Gómez, very talented. Her dancers show amazing style and precision - when the corps is dancing together, every movement is perfectly synchronized. More importantly, they show duende, the all-important spirit of flamenco.

The Fantasticks, on the other hand, lacks a certain spirit. The story is about a boy and a girl whose fathers pretend to feud so that the kids will fall in love. Then, they hire an actor to abduct, or "rape" the girl, so the boy can rescue her. The original off-Broadway production was famously spare, a nearly bare stage, a few painted backdrops, letting the music stand out.

The movie takes a different approach, using slightly stylized sets and Montana locations. Mrs. Spenser is a big fan of the original production, and was disappointed at this approach. She was more disappointed by the presentation of the songs and the acting.

I was not familiar with the show, outside of the hits "Try to Remember" and "Soon It's Gonna Rain". I was pleased to find Joel Grey as one of the fathers - I like him because his dad was Yiddish comic musician and Spike Jones comrade, Mickey Katz. Also, Teller of Penn and Teller has a (silent) role.

Other than that, a pretty lackluster show. They tone down the "rape" stuff, shorten the songs, pad the dialog and action, generally make a movie out of it. Still, it's fun, and the songs are good. Just doesn't seem to meet its potential.